§ Squadron-Leader Kinghornasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will now make a statement about the signature of the Convention relating to the Port of Beira.
§ Mr. Ernest DaviesThe House will recall that in reply to a question put by my hon. Friend the Member for Leominster (Mr. Baldwin), I said on the 24th May that negotiations were continuing with the Portuguese Government for the conclusion of a Convention governing the development of the Port of Beira in East116W Africa. I am glad to confirm the press reports and to announce that this Convention was signed in Lisbon on the 17th June by His Majesty's Ambassador on behalf of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and the Government of Southern Rhodesia and by the Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs on behalf of the Government of Portugal. It is the belief of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom that the Convention will make an important contribution to the solution of the transport and economic problems of the British Central African territories, and that it will strengthen still further the close ties between His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and the Government of Portugal.
The text of the Convention and of certain Exchanges of Notes with the Portuguese Government relating to the Convention will be presented in due course to the House as a Command Paper in the Treaty Series.
I should like at the same time to pay a tribute on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary to the personal interest of his Excellency Dr. Salazar, the Portuguese President of the Council, in the negotiations leading up to the signature of the Convention and to express my appreciation of the work of His Majesty's Ambassador at Lisbon.